GOOD PROGRESS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19824, 29 December 1938, Page 14

GOOD PROGRESS

COUNTRY LIBRARY SERVICE MINISTER PLEASED 18,000 VOLUMES OWNED The valuable contribution being' made to the cultural life of New Zealanders by the Country Library Service is indicated by the good record of' achievement since it first came into operation only six months ago. The extraordinarily rapid progress made during the period promises fulfilment, in a comparatively short space, of the original aim of the service to supply free of cost to everyone in New Zealand a regular and representative selection of the world's best books of all kinds. Pleasure at the achievement of the service to date and at the increasing response forthcoming from the smaller towns and country districts where the service is operating was expressed by the Minister of Education, the Hon. P. Fraser, in an interview with the Post, Wellington. The following description of the service and its method of operation was compiled from information supplied by the Minister. The service now owns 18,000 volumes, most of which are at present in use in various parts of New Zealand. Temporary headquarters for the director of the service, Mr. G. T. Alley, and his staff have been established in a large room at the rear of Parliament Buildings, Wellington, but the service will eventually be housed in the proposed National Library block. What is known as the free service is being extended as fast as possible to libraries under the control of local bodies, such as borough councils and town boards,, one condition, being that the local body in each case must change over from the method of finance by subscription and make the contents of its library available to readers entirely free of charge. Books are provided by the service on the basis of 15 for every 100 of population, and they are changed periodically. Free Lending Under this plan there are now 10 free libraries in New Zealand—l2 in the North Island and four in the South —all of which except two that were previously free have adopted j free lending as a direct result of the ' Country Library Service's activities. ] They are as follows: —North Island: ( Kaiicohe, Huntly, Morrinsville, Kaponga, Taupo, Te Karaka, Taradale, Bulls, Woodville, Pahiatua. Otaki, and Featherston. South Island Motucka, Rangiora, Alexander and Waimate. Negotiations are at present under way with a number of other libraries tnat desire to come into the scheme. Independent or membership libraries may avail themselves of what is known as a contract service under which they receive books at a stated price per hundred which is considerably below the price at which those libraries could purchase their own requirements. In addition arrangements are made to change those books three or four times a year. To date 174 libraries—94 in .the South Island and 80 in the North —have taken advantage of this contract service. A third type of service is provided for groups of people in isolated districts. Supplies of books are forwarded to them from time to time in special hampers and are changed periodically. There are now 25 of these groups receiving regular supplies. Increasing use is being made of a postal service for persons requiring books of a technical or other non-fictional nature. Books for Institutions The latest advance in the scope of the service provides for the regular supply of books to the Burwood Girls’ Home. In addition to fiction fresh supplies of new books, including nonfiction dealing with needlework, handcrafts, and so on, are being sent to the home from time to time. No longer will the girls there have to be content with cast-off reading matter. Later it is hoped to extend this new service to other similar institutions. Up to the present the service has been concerned only with providing for the needs of adults, but it is intended as early as possible to provide similar facilities for juvenile readers. Details of any move in this direction have yet to be fixed but it is possible that assistance may be given to school libraries. So far the operation of the library service has been limited to towns and boroughs with a population not exceeding 2500 but it is hoped to increase this limit next year and in subsequent years. It is contended that the larger and therefore usually more affluent centres are more able to provide adequate library facilities than the smaller towns. Books are delivered to the libraries served in specially-designed vans in charge of officers who have received special training in library methods and control. As well as dealing with supplies and changes of books these officers are also available to give librarians advice and assistance.